Pin it & Do it #10

Easy Cinnamon rolls from scratch  EASY PEASY! they went perfectly w/the chili in the crockpot last Tuesday night for supper & the leftovers were great for breakfast. Adding it to my arsenal! WIN

Homemade Beer Bread 
I am a big fan of Tastefully Simple beer bread mix & this tasted the same.  I made it for Tim to take on his hunting trip with the guys back in March. He couldn't tell it was homemade. WIN

Tuscan Lemon Chicken   

Found on musingsofahousewife.com  

This was so good! I used this for my half of the chicken breast for Saturday's grilled supper. Its my new go to.  the only changes I made were that I used dried Rosemary & omitted the salt & lemon zest. I used it for shredded chicken for homemade chimichangas & have enough leftover for salad topping today! WIN

Pin it & Do it #8

Swedish Meatballs   pure yumminess! I use my 'regular' meatball recipe & use this sauce. Tim AND the kids like it too. Win!!

Boil eggs in the oven   I have done 3-4 dozen like this now & had no complaints until the last back, for some reason the inner skin of the shell didn't peel off w/the shell so I had to spend extra time rubbing it off. Nothing major but inconvenient. Boiling some in water -you know, the old fashioned way-from the same dozen eggs now so we will see if they are with or without the inner skin issue.  

Infant report sheet   Starting a new infant in care this week I needed a report card to send home daily.  I lost the old one I used to use on an old computer so Pinterest to the rescue! I saved this file, opened it in Picasa, leveled, cropped & printed them 4 to a sheet. FANTASTIC WIN!!! 

Pin it & Do it #9

Greek Yogurt Coffee Cake -OH my GOODNESS! I had high hopes for this one & it exceeded them. If you EVER need a sweet, moist brunch or afternoon contribution for a small group, I highly recommend this little gem! It bakes in a bread loaf pan so it makes it the perfect size for my group for after school snack or 2 breakfasts. WIN!

Chunky Monkey Protein Smoothies -SO good  & healthy!! next time I would add a bit of honey for sweetness as the ones w/the extra sweet tooth weren't huge fans but I loved them & the majority did too. I even froze the leftovers to thaw a few days later & had myself one for breakfast! Win!

Honey Mustard Pork Chops - YUMMMMMMM!! I don't know what I was thinking ordering pork chops from the food coop the week before Tim's hog hunt but I did & with the call coming in yesterday that his pork is ready at the locker, I wanted to get the ones from the coop eaten before they got lost in the shuffle. Please tell me that happens in your freezer too, the stock doesn't always get rotated & eventually you find a 'treasure' in the back or bottom that is wayyyyyyyyyy past its prime? :) I have gotten much better about it with my desire to get the most out of everything we have but it still does happen.  ANYWAY, recipe, Kim! I cooked last night (which is odd-I am blessed w/a husband that has discovered the joy of cooking)+I wanted to use the pork chops+pinterest rocks. This was SUPER EASY! I cannot believe how easy! the only thing I did differently was that I didn't measure the onion salt or black pepper. Yes, I actually used onion salt. I usually don't but I realized we have an almost new jar in the cupboard & needed to use it, I just won't be replacing it. I also had to lengthen the final cook time by 5 minutes to get them up to 165 but I might instead lengthen the first section of cook time from 3 minutes per side to 5 or 6 minutes per side.  Tim even liked this & said to hold on to that recipe! That is a definite WIN!!

Go Pin it & Do it!

Pin it & do it #7

oops, better late than never... Early out last Thursday, No School Friday & Monday with a surprise overnight away on Saturday=nothing blogged, nothing even cooked to blog about. Then we have had stew meat cooked in the crockpot using my roast recipe the past 2 nights for supper as hot beef sandwiches, I made donut muffins yesterday & a friend's meatball recipe I love, so just one recipe pinned & done to report.


First try- Bisquick Cornbread- Ick, that was my first thought when I tried it warm out of the pan.  Upon further investigation I have found another recipe with less butter, sugar (that I plan to sub in honey for) & baking powder to try next time. this one- FAIL! unless smothered in honey :)

the burger I had at Zombie Burger on my scrapping weekend last month. going to in search of copycat recipes!

Pin it & Do it #6

Pioneer Woman's spicy shredded pork-- well, I used a pork loin that was in the freezer, not a shoulder & think I may have put too much water for the roasting pan I used as this wasn't all that flavorful & definitely not spicy. :( Keeping to try again next month so calling this one a DO OVER.

Plain Chicken's White Bean Chicken Chili {slow cooker} -- I don't know about you but I am a sucker for a Thankful Thursday post? This is THAT recipe)
slow cooker recipe!  Since I was just finishing up making some Chicken bone broth, I had both fresh shredded chicken & broth on hand & instead of freezing both to thaw out later to make this, I just bumped this up in my pile.  Since it was a last minute decision, I did have to do some edits but it worked. (remember my recent

•    12 oz cooked chicken chopped--fresh cooked in the crock pot 
•  3 (15oz) cans white beans, drained--2 cups (ish) dryed/soaked from the local Amish thanks to Grandpa
•  1 (4oz) can green chiles--peppers from summer farmer's market that were chopped then frozen
•  24 oz salsa-- Tim's homemade salsa
• ·         3 cups chicken broth--fresh cooked in the crock pot
• ·         1 Tbsp cumin-- end of the bottle of Mexican chili powder from an Arizona uncle
• ·         16 oz monterey jack cheese, grated--mozarella-its just what I had

*I* loved it. Tim, anti-chicken that he is-took one bite & said it tasted too much like chicken.. chicken was the last thing I tasted, I detected the jalapenos & mexican chili pepper. SO, I have 3 meals for myself in the freezer & one to share w/a friend. HALF WIN

Only 2  new recipes week to report. 

Pin it & Do it #5

Old El Paso Deep Dish Taco Squares -

• doubled the bisquick, water & ground beef, 
• used homemade bisquick & homemade taco seasoning
• since the seasoning was homemade I think it was stronger than the pkg-use half next time
• left out the tomatoes & peppers, next time I will use homemade salsa

other than tasting salty (I assume it was just too much seasoning) it was a WIN.

Haggy Housewife's Homemade Bisquick mix - used items I had on hand (YAY for knowing everything that's in it!) & mixed up in a jiffy! worked just fine in the above taco squares recipe. trying it for quick biscuits next week. WIN!

Iowa Girl Eats' Cheesy Potato Soup - Tim was immediately turned off by the name (potato soup) & its too spicy for the childcare kiddos but I loved it!  I even froze the leftovers in single meal size portions for myself.  Thawed & ate one this week-just as good as fresh!  Edits: I used real potatoes shredded in my processor instead of frozen & may have used more than 4 cups, used a whole quart of homemade chicken bone broth, skipped the shallot, red pepper flakes(didn't have any) & green onions, used 1/2 white onion instead, shredded a whole (8oz) block of cheese to use.  HALF A WIN ;) 

are you doing anything you pin? are you enjoying these posts? 

Pin it & Do it #4

crockpot french toast http://www.pinterest.com/pin/262827328227938472/-- YUM!! we will be doing this
again! I followed the recipe & easily could have doubled it for my little 4 quarter! I forgot to turn the crockpot on when I went to bed, so started it in the morning & we ate it for lunch. WIN

Mississippi pot roast http://www.pinterest.com/pin/262827328227944725/-- not sure, calls for a re-do. I used a 7 bone roast, it wouldn't lay down in my 6 quart crockpot so the butter all ran off & burnt to the bottom so the roast wasn't incredibly tender. I shredded it that night & Tim smothered it in BBQ & ate it on hamburger buns for his lunch at work the next day, so not a total loss. I am going to try it on a smaller roast that will fit in the bottom & report again.  RE-DO

homemade ranch mix  http://www.pinterest.com/pin/262827328227982703/ -- I have been making a similar recipe for over a year now, but lost the print out & couldn't find it on my blog so switching to this one which is really, REALLY close.  used it in the Mississippi pot roast & it was fine.  going to mix it w/some cream cheese for a weekend snack w/veggies or crackers. WIN

Pin it & Do it #3

1. donut muffins  oh  my goodness these are so good we've had them twice this week! good for after school snack & breakfast as well. a couple of them even liked to dip them in their hot cocoa :) WIN
2. New Nostalgia's Ooey Gooey Popcorn - I can't believe I haven't posted this yet! I made it perfectly the first time, the next 2 not so much, then again perfectly one day last week & it is going on our weekly-after-school-snacks list! YUMMMMM  WIN
3. So clever! Car trash can   I loved this so much that as soon as I saw it, I got up & fixed one ready to go out! I even tucked 2 more grocery sacks in the bottom so that when the full one is pulled out, I will have no excuse to not re-line it!
1. contained trash in the van- not to get kicked or blown all over
2. easy to empty -no excuses for overflowing trash
3. something I already had in the cupboard - since we have almost quit buying cereal & almost everything in the pantry is stored in glass, I have several of these taking up valuable space in the cupboards. WIN

Better late than never this week, right? 

pin it & do it #2

Super quick post today so no photos, my apology!!

Keeper of the Home's Homemade Cheeseburger Helper
I have actually had this printed & hanging on my fridge for a while & finally tried it over Christmas break.  The kids loved it! So much so that I made it again this week & have leftovers for a supper & another lunch (since I fed less & smaller tummies today) WIN!

Spice Girl's Bacon & Egg Breakfast Cups
these were an incredible mess for me. I used sausage instead of bacon, real shredded potatoes instead of frozen & GENEROUSLY sprayed mini muffin pans instead of sprayed, lined regular size.  They stuck & I ended up having to use the skinny end of a Tupperware orange peeler to scrape/pry them out & then they still had to soak & still needed hand washing after the dishwasher! UGH! NEVER EVER AGAIN. win some lose some :) FAIL!


From Facebook: Banana Oatmeal bars
I had no raisins so just sprinkled the top w/mini m&m's. the kids liked them okay but I Thought they were dry. Not one I will repeat.  FAIL!

I have a few more recipes on tap for this week & weekend, Hamburger Soup & a Spicy potato soup to name a couple.

Pin it & Do it.

for the first time ever I can report that I DID something I pinned!

several somethings actually, all food related :)

Swedish Pastry
the girls & I did this one in a 2 day spread.  crust, center & bake day one, frost on day 2.


Chocolate cupcakes with peppermint frosting

These I did on my own as the girls were all 'baked out' by Friday @4pm :)  they were way easier than the recipe looks, it just might be my go to chocolate cupcake recipe when I have the extra time & energy. 

 Chocolate dipped Chocolate chip cookie dough bites

 The kids & I did these in a 2 day spread as well: mixed & formed into balls one day, chilled overnight & dipped the next day.

YUMMMMMMMMMM on all counts!
did you try anything new from pinterest this holiday season?